Hayden officials receptive to downtown improvements

Steamboat Springs  Hayden officials were receptive to the idea of finding ways to improve business signage and facades and to take a look at future parking needs.

Hayden Town Manager David Torgler said business owner Tammie Delaney met with Hayden Town Council members last week to discuss her plan. Delaney wants the town to partner with the Colorado Center for Community Development, Colorado Center for Preservation Research and the University of Colorado. College students would be enlisted to help complete the work at a fraction of what it would cost to hire professionals. For example, the students would help complete an inventory of existing parking downtown.

Torgler said it is still unknown how much the work would cost. Delaney, owner of Wild Goose Coffee at the Granary, has said the next step is to work with the Colorado Center for Community Development to create a scope of work that will determine what the college students will work on and what the cost will be. Grants to help pay for the studies and improvements may be available from the Department of Local Affairs and the Routt County Economic Development Cooperative.

"There may be some funding for such a project," Torgler said.

Torgler said Town Council members do not want to pass up the opportunities discussed by Delaney, but they felt Delaney needed to lead the project.

"The thoughts from the Town Council were this is going to have to be a project led by Tammie Delaney," Torgler said. "With everything we have in front of us as a town, we're stretched pretty thin already."

Torgler said the town's staff members are currently busy working on some big projects, including planning for a new water tank at Yampa Valley Regional Airport.